Many agricultural and industrial vehicles, especially front wheel drive tractors, use a Cardan shaft to transmit torque between a transmission and a gear case. A Cardan shaft includes a universal joint and it is common practice to provide a protective shield over this joint to protect it from contamination and from being damaged. One such shield currently being used is a hollow tube which is fixed to the gear case so as to be stationary. The hollow tube contains an access hole through which the nozzle of a grease gun can pass to grease the nipple on the universal joint. Although the access hole is correctly positioned in the axial direction, the grease nipple can only be reached when the Cardan shaft has the correct rotational position such as to align the grease nipple radially with the access hole. Since the Cardan shaft is permanently coupled to the differential gear case, the only available way to achieve alignment is for the operator to inch the vehicle along while a second person peers through the access hole until it is aligned with the grease nipple. The vehicle is then stopped and the universal joint is lubricated. Although this procedure can be and is followed, it is highly inconvenient and necessitates two people to perform a simple operation.
Now a protective cover assembly has been invented which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.